It is also home to Buryat tribes, who raise goats, camels, cattle, sheep, and horses[14] on the eastern side of the lake,[15] where the mean temperature varies from a winter minimum of −19 °C (−2 °F) to a summer maximum of 14 °C (57 °F).

[19] The fault zone is also seismically active; hot springs occur in the area and notable earthquakes happen every few years.

Russian, U.S., and Japanese cooperative studies of deep-drilling core sediments in the 1990s provide a detailed record of climatic variation over the past 6.7 million years.

[27] Baikal is rich in oxygen, even in deep sections,[27] which separates it from distinctly stratified bodies of water such as Lake Tanganyika and the Black Sea.

[27][32] The sun continues to heat up the surface layer, and at the peak in August can reach up to about 16 °C (61 °F) in the main sections[32] and 20–24 °C (68–75 °F) in shallow bays in the southern half of the lake.

[32] The average surface temperature has risen by almost 1.5 °C (2.7 °F) in the last 50 years, resulting in a shorter period where the lake is covered by ice.

[36] More than 400 diatom species, both benthic and planktonic, are found in the lake, and about half of these are endemic to Baikal; however, significant taxonomic uncertainties remain for this group.

[37] A wide range of land mammals can be found in the habitats around the lake, such as the brown bear (Ursus arctos), Eurasian wolf (Canis lupus lupus), red fox (Vulpes vulpes), sable (Martes zibellina), stoat (Mustela erminea), least weasel (Mustela nivalis), Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra), snow leopard (Panthera uncia), Siberian tiger (Panthera tigris tigris), Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), moose (Alces alces), elk (Cervus canadensis), reindeer (Rangifer tarandus), Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), Siberian musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), wild boar (Sus scrofa), red squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris), Siberian chipmunk (Eutamias sibiricus), marmots (Marmota sp.

Half his party under Skorokhodov remained on the lake, reached the Upper Angara at its northern tip, and wintered on the Barguzin River on the northeast side.

In 1652, Vasily Kolesnikov reported from Barguzin that one could reach the Amur country by following the Selenga, Uda, and Khilok Rivers to the future sites of Chita and Nerchinsk.

At times during winter freezes, the lake could be crossed on foot, though at risk of frostbite and deadly hypothermia from the cold wind moving unobstructed across flat expanses of ice.

In the winter of 1920, the Great Siberian Ice March occurred, when the retreating White Russian Army crossed frozen Lake Baikal.

[86] In July 2008, Russia sent two small submersibles, Mir-1 and Mir-2, to descend 1,592 m (5,223 ft) to the bottom of Lake Baikal to conduct geological and biological tests on its unique ecosystem.

[91] The lake, nicknamed "the Pearl of Siberia", drew investors from the tourist industry as energy revenues sparked an economic boom.

At the northern part of the lake, Baikalplan (a German NGO) built together with Russians in 2009 the Frolikha Adventure Coastline Track, a 100 km (62 mi)-long long-distance trail as an example for sustainable development of the region.

Rosatom plans to build a laboratory near Baikal, in conjunction with an international uranium plant and to invest $2.5 billion in the region and create 2,000 jobs in the city of Angarsk.

According to the Russian Federal State Statistics Service, in 2013, 79,179 foreign tourists visited Irkutsk and Lake Baikal; in 2014, 146,937 visitors.

This allows access to the figures of ice that are formed at rocky banks of Olkhon Island, including Cape Hoboy, the Three Brothers rock, and caves to the north of Khuzhir.

A range of factors contribute to an increased risk of falling through the ice towards the end of the season, resulting in multiple deaths in Russia each year, although exact data for Baikal are unknown.

[104][105][106] It faces a series of detrimental phenomena including the disappearance of the omul fish, the rapid growth of putrid algae and the death of endemic species of sponges across its area.

The Soviet scientists felt that it was irrational to change Lake Baikal's water quality by beginning paper production on the shore.

[108] However, the objections of the Soviet scientists faced opposition from the industrial lobby and only after decades of protest, the plant was closed in November 2008 due to unprofitability.

On 13 January 2010, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin introduced changes in legislation legalising the operation of the plant; this action brought about a wave of protests from ecologists and local residents.

Environmental activists in Russia,[117] Greenpeace, Baikal pipeline opposition[118] and local citizens[119] were strongly opposed to these plans, due to the possibility of an accidental oil spill that might cause significant damage to the environment.

[120] Transneft agreed to alter its plans when Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered the company to consider an alternative route 40 kilometers (25 mi) to the north to avoid such ecological risks.

[124] In 2006, the Russian government announced plans to build the world's first international uranium enrichment center at an existing nuclear facility in Angarsk, a city on the river Angara some 95 km (59 mi) downstream from the lake's shores.

Uranium tailings contain radioactive and toxic materials, which if improperly stored, are potentially dangerous to humans and can contaminate rivers and lakes.

[126] Chinese-owned AquaSib had been purchasing land alongside the lake and in 2019 started building a bottling plant and pipeline in the town of Kultuk.

[127] According to The Moscow Times and Vice, an increasing number of an invasive species of algae thrive in the lake from hundreds of tons of liquid waste, including fuel and excrement, regularly disposed into the lake by tourist sites, and up to 25,000 tons of liquid waste are disposed of every year by local ships.

[133] It is also attested in the famous song, now passed into the tradition, that opens with the words Славное море, священный Байкал (Glorious sea, [the] sacred Bajkal).